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Celebrate National K9 Veterans Day With Us!

Today is National K9 Veterans’ Day! This day is set aside to honor all military and working dogs for their heroic service and sacrifice! But today is for more than K9s serving bravely in the military and K9 Veterans—today we also honor police, customs, border patrol, service, therapy, and other dogs who work to protect and serve.

We are all in debt to these dogs. Their stories of bravery and heroism are countless. One such story is that of Contract Working Dog (CWD) Anu, told by our amazing partners at MissionK9Rescue. Their mission is “To Rescue, Reunite, Re-Home, Rehabilitate and Repair any retired working dog that has served mankind in some capacity.” And they truly do an incredible job working this mission.

CWD Anu’s Story

CWD Anu, a Narcotics Detection Dog, was responsible for working customs cargo in Kuwait. He is a Belgian Malinois with extremely high drive. Working dogs “work” for rewards, and in his case the reward (a red kong toy) was the most important thing in his life.

CWD Anu’s drive was such that once he received the reward, he would not release the toy. When a dog has the toy, they don’t work. CWD Anu was forced repeatedly to release his toy by force and as a result, became extremely fearful of male handlers due to the treatment he received. He lost his work drive and essentially became lethargic and was left in the kennel in Kuwait and not worked.

When Anu arrived in the United States, he was a broken relic of the champion he used to be. He was confused and depressed, sitting in his own urine, trembling and fearful. This was not a normal case, and special treatment was in order.

Anu was taken in by a foster family the same night of his arrival due to his deteriorating condition. He sat on the floor and shook for hours while being reassured over and over by strangers that he was safe and loved.

Over the course of five months he closely bonded to his human mom and became closer to his human dad, even though he was still very fearful of men. With love and care, Anu has come out of the shell of his former broken self and will even let his “reward” go when asked. It is nothing short of a miracle that he is both alive and thriving thanks to the grant provided by Greatergood.org. Without it, he would likely not have survived.

You can help dogs like CWD Anu through our “Care For Our Nation’s Retired Military and Police Dogs” fund. Click here to donate.